IndyCar racer Sam Schmidt and his special semi-autonomous Corvette, ready for some laps before the Indy 500.

Pod Rods comes at you a day early, but with some news about a hot Cadillac coupe, two new/old versions of a special Jaguar, and a fun recreation of my favorite movie scene. And we have a very active car event calendar for you...

The man who created the first dune buggy and continues to make them today has another innovation.Bruce Meyers, who brought his first 1964 Meyers Manx VW-powered dune buggy to the March Amelia Island Concours d'Elegance, unveiled a prototype electric Manx to be produced by him and Rev-TEC and Meyers Manx will introduce in the near future. The EV Manx will have an electric motor with a lithium-ion battery pack and will be sold as a Neighborhood Electric Vehicle, limited to about 45-mph.

Cadillac will produce a limited special-edition 2015 CTS-V Coupe as the last chapter of the current model before the next generation V-Series debuts next year.Five hundred limited-edition coupes will available during the second half of this year with Magnetic Ride Control, Brembo brakes and 556-horsepower supercharged V-8.The special edition features an exclusive Ebony interior with red contrast stitching, Recaro performance seats, metal pedals, Midnight Sapele wood trim, suede-wrapped steering wheel and shift knob, dark-finish V grille, satin graphite wheels and red brake calipers.The price for this ride: $72,195, including a $995 destination charge and $1,300 Gas Guzzler Tax.

More than half of drivers have forgotten where they've parked, making it the No. 1 driving embarrassment.Driving over curbs in parking lots, locking keys in the car and going the wrong way down one-way streets are also the most common gaffes, with women admitting to doing all of them more than men. That's according to Insurance.com, which recently surveyed 2,000 drivers (half men and half women) and asked them about their awkward driving flubs.Some top answers:Forgot where they parked: 52 percent (men: 44 percent; women: 59 percent)Drove over a curb in a parking lot: 43 percent (men: 35 percent; women: 51 percent)Locked keys in the car: 37 percent (men: 34 percent; women: 41 percent)Gone the wrong way down a one-way street: 34 percent (men: 30 percent; women: 38 percent)Driven away with something on the roof, such as coffee or a purse: 31 percent (men: 28 percent; women: 34 percent)For more results, see their website.

Possibly the most beautiful and capable sports car ever made was the original Jaguar E-Type, with its stunning bullet shape crafted by designer Malcolm Sayers.Now Jaguar says it will build six brand new 'Lightweight' E-types, the "missing" six of what was supposed to be an 18-car series. This is the Coventry company's first "recreation" project, making all-aluminum cars to be assigned the six remaining chassis numbers originally allocated in 1963. All six will be built to the exact specifications of the original 12 cars - 250 lbs. less than a standard E-type, and all probably going to Jaguar collectors.

Brumos Porsche unveiled Tuesday night the new Porsche Macan compact SUV — the fifth model line for Porsche — at its 10100 Atlantic Blvd. dealership.The Macan comes in two models. The Macan S is powered by a 3-liter twin-turbo V-6 with 340 horsepower and can hit 60 mph in 5.0 seconds. The Macan Turbo's 3.6-liter twin-turbo V-6 has 400 hp and hits 60 mph in 4.4 seconds.Veteran endurance racing champion and dealership VP Hurley Haywood was at the event to help unveil the car. He told the audience that when he first heard the German sports car maker was planning to build a full-size SUV, which became the 2002 Cayenne, they thought Porsche was "crazy."But the success of the Cayenne and the Panamera sedan proves Porsche can make a sporting sedan and SUV, so he said the Macan was the next logical step."They are absolutely amazing to drive on the street and on the track," he said. "It is not like a Panamera; it's not like a Cayenne. It has its own sort of character. It is really a special vehicle."The base prices are $49,900 for the Macan S and $72,300 for the Macan Turbo.

A Ford Mustang finally made it into space — 50 years after the first one premiered during the space race.On May 2, San Francisco-area Ford zone sales manager Michael Sego, Big Valley Ford managing partner Steve Kubitz and some friends launched a Mustang into earth's atmosphere."Mustang has always been about getting behind the wheel and hitting the open road, but we decided to take to the open sky," Sego said.Sego and Kubitz got a high-altitude weather balloon and added a rod to the instrumentation box suspended below it.A Revell Mustang model kit was attached to the rod with cameras to record the event.About 74 minutes into flight and almost 21 miles up, the car and box with GPS transmitter were dropped. During its descent, the little red 'Stang spun a bit before getting low enough in the atmosphere to deploy the parachute.The video can be seen here.

Two-time CART IndyCar champion and former Formula One driver Alessandro Zanardi has been appointed as a new BMW Brand Ambassador.The 47-year-old racer lost both legs in a 2001 IndyCar race at the EuroSpeedway Lausitz. Within two years, Zanardi returned to racing in modified BMW race cars, winning four races in the FIA World Touring Car Championship.At the 2012 Paralympic Games in London, he won two gold medals and one silver medal. And this year, he is a BMW Works driver in the Blancpain Sprint Series, behind the wheel of a BMW Z4 GT3."I am very proud to become a BMW Brand Ambassador", Zanardi said.

Another racer will get to lap the race track that he loves thanks to some serious technology.According to Gizmodo, former Indy Racing League driver Sam Schmidt, who became a quadriplegic after crashing at Florida's Walt Disney World Speedway in January 2000, will do four laps before May 25th's Indy 500 in a semi-autonomous Corvette.Schmidt is racing as part of the Arrow SAM (semi-autonomous motorcar) Project, a collaboration with Arrow Electronics, Ball Aerospace, Schmidt Peterson Motorsports, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the nonprofit Falci Adaptive Motorsports. The new Corvette C7 Stingray has been retrofitted with new systems including steering and speed controls that use an array of helmet-mounted reflective infrared markers that let a series of overhead cameras track and measure the movements of the driver's head.Tilting his head left or right, Schmidt steers the car; tilting his head back accelerates while biting down on a mouth tube applies the brakes. Its GPS warning system will alert Schmidt if he strays too close to the track's edge and forcibly correct his steering if the car continues to drift. What's more, a safety officer will be riding shotgun and can take control using driving instructor controls if necessary.

Finally, it is the most iconic car chase in cinematic history – Steve McQueen in the green Mustang chasing the gun-toting baddies in the Dodge Charger in 1968's "Bullit." But since this is the 50th anniversary of the iconic pony car – Mustang, that is – the folks at England's Silverstone race track came up with a grand idea to promote its upcoming (July 25-27) Silverstone Classic event. They recreate the chase, but on the iconic F1 track, right down to a VW Beetle showing up a few times. And if you would like to compare, here's the spine-tingling original.

This is a very busy car show weekend, so here goes:

Car shows in Florida:• Post 137 seventh annual Veteran's Car Show - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at American Legion Post 137 at 5443 San Juan Ave. Free for spectators and $25 per show vehicle.• Second annual Armed Forces Day Car and Motorcycle Show - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at the Military Museum of North Florida, 1 Bunker Ave. in Green Cove Springs. Free for spectators and $20 per show vehicle.• Corvette and All-Chevrolet Show - 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at Nimnicht Chevrolet, 1550 Cassat Ave. Free for spectators and $30 for Chevrolet or Corvette show cars. proceeds benefit the Safe Harbor Boy's Academy.• St. Augustine Cruisers 12th annual Car and truck Show - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the Florida school for the Deaf and Blind at 207 N. San Marco Ave. in St. Augustine. Free for spectators and $20 per show vehicle.• Taylor Residences 16th annual Spring Fling Car Show - 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday at Taylor residences at 3937 Spring Park Road. Free for spectators and show vehicles with driver and guest.• American Legion Riders Post 88 sixth annual Fun Run - Registration starts at 9 a.m. Saturday at the American Legion at 3662 Spring Park Road for $20 per motorcycle and $5 per passenger, with the poker run set to start at 10:15 a.m. Proceeds benefit the Sulzbacher Center's veterans program.• Cats Cars and Canines Car Show - noon to 3 p.m. Sunday May 18 at the Jacksonville Humane Society, 8464 Beach Blvd. Free to spectators and $25 per show vehicle. Proceeds benefit the humane society.

Cruise-ins:• Informal cruise-in - 7 to 9 a.m. every Saturday at the Krispy Kreme doughnut shop at 11117 San Jose Blvd. in Mandarin.• First Coast F-100 Club - 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at River City Marketplace at 13141 City Station Drive.• Clay County Cruzers - 6 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Your Pie Pizza at 1545 County Road 220 in Fleming Island.• Lowes Cruise-in - 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lowe's at 4040 Oldfield Crossing Drive in Mandarin.• St. Augustine Cruisers - 5 to 8 p.m. Saturday at Hobby Lobby at 200 Florida 312 in St. Augustine.• Southeast Georgia Car and Truck Club cruise-ins - 6 p.m. the second Saturday of each month at Sonic's, 395 Charlie Smith Senior Highway, St. Marys; and 6 p.m. on the fourth Saturday of each month at the Millhouse Steakhouse, 1215 East King Ave. in Kingsland, next to Interstate 95.• Bike Enthusiasts show - 7 p.m. the first and third Thursdays, Cavagnaro's restaurant at 1810 South GA Parkway W. in Waycross.• Orange Park Rotary Club Show - 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday May 24 at Orange Park High School, 2300 Kingsley Ave. Free for spectators and $25 per show vehicle, proceeds to benefit P.E.T.• Anheuser Busch Brewery Car Show and Tour - 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday May 24, at the brewery at 111 Busch Drive. Free for spectators and $25 per show vehicle, proceeds to benefit the Ronald McDonald House.